Senate President Franklin M. Drilon identified the congressional initiative to amend the economic provisions in the Constitution as a priority reform measure — seen to open up the economy and provide more leeway for foreign entities to do business in the Philippines.

Resolution of Both Houses No. 1 seeks to amend certain provisions in Articles XII (National Economy and Patrimony), XIV (Education, Science and Technology, Arts, Culture and Sports), and XVI (General Provisions) with the clause, “unless otherwise provided by law.”

“First and foremost is the amendments to the Constitution which will allow Congress to review the very restrictive provisions of the Constitution so that we can open our economy,” Mr. Drilon said at the Pandesal Forum yesterday.

“The conditions when we drafted the 1987 Constitution are very different from today. [Thirty] years after, a lot of things have happened and it is very important that we respond to these challenges. There is no question on that fact that we must not remain isolated.”

“I must emphasize that I am not proposing any specific amendment. What I am just saying is amend the Constitution in such a manner that a review is possible without amending the Constitution by putting the phrase ‘unless otherwise provided by law,’ which would allow us to review these are policies, whether these should stay or not. The first step is to enable Congress to do this.”

The measure is pending at the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes. At the House of Representatives, the measure is pending third and final reading.

Mr. Drilon also identified two other reform measures he would push for in the next Congress.

“I would like to review, and I support the review of our income tax structure, because the brackets — meaning if you have a taxable income of P500,000 you are taxed 32% on that income, so because that was set in 1995. Today, 20 years after, a good percentage of our taxpayers are already in our bracket, so the original concept that the higher your income, the higher your taxes should be as a means of supporting other members of our society is no longer valid, because we are all there,” he said.

“Third, I would like to enact the rationalization of fiscal incentives. Fiscal incentive is granted precisely in order for foreign companies to come to our country and provide jobs to our people, so they are provided incentives or income tax holidays, capital exemptions from customs duties on capital equipment.”

Mr. Drilon cited the Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act as a “first step… which will allow the public to scrutinize and see whether these incentives granted are serving the purpose for which these are instituted.”

“These are just some of the measures I intend to sponsor in the next Congress,” said the reelectionist candidate.

Source: www.bworldonline.com